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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning and Zoning Commission-Minutes-9/10/2001 Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - September 10, 2001 Page 1 of 10- Approved on September 24~ 2001 Chairman Hart called the regular meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission to order at 7:00 P.M. on September 10, 2001. Roll Call: Present: Tom Hart, Jo Ann Gasper, Luann Edwards, Earl Swift, Mark Hollis, Jeff Wall Bryan Hill Barry LeBaron, Clayton Husband, and Jan Levy Absent: Staff: Invocation: Commissioner Swift Approval of Minutes: August 27, 2001 Commissioner Gasper moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Commissioner Wall seconded the motion. The vote being: Ayes: Gasper, Edwards, Swift, Hollis, Wall, Hart Noes: None Commissioner Wall read a resolution written by the Commissioners honoring the outgoing Commission members. (A copy is attached at the end of the minutes.) Mayor Arp expressed thanks from the Council, the citizens and herself to the outgoing Commissioners Hill, Edwards, and Hart. Outgoing Commissioner Edwards and Hart expressed their appreciation and spoke to the Commissioners. The Mayor introduced Joe Hocutt, Brad Rice, and Dana Feldman and Jo Ann Gasper presented plaques to outgoing Commissioners Tom Hart and Luann Edwards. Recording Secretary Jan Levy administered the oath of office to Mark Jones, Place 6 and Bud Sellers, Place 7. ELECTION OF OFFICERS: Commissioner Gasper explained that the first order of business is to elect officers and as they do not have a chairman to preside over the elections, she stepped in as the Place 1 Commissioner to preside. Commissioner Wall nominated Jo Ann Gasper for Chairman. Earl Swift seconded the motion. Since there were no other nominations, Jo Ann Gasper was declared Chairman. Commissioner Hollis nominated Jeff Wall and Commissioner Wall nominated Mark Hollis for Vice Chairman. There were no other nominations. Chairman Gasper asked for a secret ballot. The vote was 4 for Commissioner Wall and 2 for Commissioner Hollis. Commissioner Wall was elected Vice Chairman. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - September 10, 2001 Page 2 of 10- Approved on September 24, 2001 Chairman Gasper said given the dedicated service, the knowledge and the expertise that Jan Levy has brought to the Commission for many years, she declared Jan Levy as the Recording Secretary. The Commission unanimously approved the appointment with great gratitude and acclamation. 1. PUBLIC HEARING - A replat of Lots 3 & 4, Block A, Colleyville Shopping Village Addition requested by Tom Wouters, Colleyville Square Partners II, 7.174 acres located on the east side of Colleyville Boulevard south of Sanders Road. Case P-01-027 Clayton Husband presented the case to the Commission and reviewed the staff briefing. He said the property was recently sold and the plat will coincide with the deeds to the property to make sure that the lots match up with the deeds. He addressed access to the proposed buildings and he said all of the DRC comments have been addressed and staff recommends approval. Chairman Gasper opened the public hearing. There being no one wishing to speak, the public hearing was closed. Commissioner Swift moved to approve the replat. Commissioner Wall seconded the motion. The vote being: Ayes: Wall, Swift, Jones, Sellers, Hollis, Gasper Noes: None 2. PUBLIC HEARING - A Zoning Change from R20 to CPO (Commercial-Professional Office) requested by Claire Edwards, on Lot 18, Block 3, Andy Felps Addition located on the northeast corner of Cheek Sparger Road and Felps Drive. Case Z-01-023 Barry LeBaron presented the case to the Commission. He told them this request is for an old house that is zoned residential. He said several months ago, staff received a complaint that Ms. Edwards was operating a business illegally because the property was not zoned for office use. He said he and the Code Enforcement Officer went to the business and visited with Ms. Edwards and advised her that a home accounting business is allowed by the regulations, but she did not meet all of the criteria. Mr. LeBaron said he told her that she did not meet the criteria that only members of the family residing in the residence are allowed to work in the home business. Mr. LeBaron said she is in violation of the regulation and also that the business needs to be incidental of the building and can't use more than 25% of the house for the business. He said that she is using the entire structure for business purposes. Mr. LeBaron said that if someone has a business in a residential neighborhood they would not want it to look like a McDonalds, but retain the residential appearance. He said that this house still looks like a residence from the outside. Mr. LeBaron said the regulations state that no traffic may be generated than more than would normally be expected. He said that the regulation regarding traffic almost contradicts another provision that says that an accounting office is allowed in a home occupation, because you couldn't have people come there and bring the books. He said that unless people park at the end of the street and walk down the street to bring the books to the accountant, one could not comply. Mr. LeBaron said that he plans on talking to the Zoning Board of Adjustment about the Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - September 10, 2001 Page 3 of 10- Approved on September 24, 2001 interpretation of that regulation in the near future. Mr. LeBaron said Ms. Edwards generally turned the house into an office and she asked him what her area of relief was. He said that he advised her to seek rezoning or turn it back into a residence and live there and no longer use it as strictly an accountant's office. He said after Ms. Edwards filed an application for rezoning and notice was sent to the surrounding owners, staff received four letters of opposition. Chairman Gasper said there is a letter in the packet from Claire Edwards stating she is unable to attend the meeting because of an illness in the family that requires her to be out of the city. She said the letter requests the item to be tabled. Chairman Gasper stated that because the public hearing has been published and surrounding property owners have been notified of the hearing, they are required to conduct the hearing. Chairman Gasper said they would open the hearing, hold the hearing, then close the hearing, then table the request so that Claire Edwards will have an opportunity to come forward and state her case to the Commission. She said that she would like to place the item first on the agenda of their next meeting in case there are citizens who would like to attend that portion of the discussion. There was agreement by the Commission. Chairman Gasper opened the public hearing. Those present wishing to speak were: Steve Knight, 3917 Felps Court spoke in opposition. He distributed paperwork to the Commissioners to explain his position. He said he owns a residential dwelling directly to the south of the rezoning change request and his property is the closest one to the subject property. He said this is a serious matter and is the same matter that was before the Commission approximately 1 % years ago under the banner of the Colleyville Commons project known as the Wal Mart issue with helicopters circling City Hall and cars lining up in the parking lot. He said there was quite a bit of controversy about the matter, but what was lost in that particular controversy was the conversion of residential property to commercial use in close proximity to established residential neighborhoods. Mr. Knight said his neighbors and friends who live in the subdivisions nearby are very sensitive about that. Mr. Knight said there are a number of reasons he opposes the zoning change. He said he could take all night to tell the Commissioners about the ills that are associated with a commercial activity taking place near established residential neighborhoods. He said some were: traffic, crime, the fact that the two functions don't mesh well together, and the fact that this property is completely isolated on all four sides by residential property. Mr. Knight said to allow rezoning will almost certainly have a domino affect on nearby residential properties applying for rezoning and will continue a trend of obtrusion of commercial activity closer, and closer, and closer to existing neighborhoods. He said some neighborhoods have been in existence for 15 and 20 years and occupied by tax paying citizens. Mr. Knight said there are a lot of debates before the Commission on sensitive matters like this one and other homeowners have made cases to rezone residential property near other residential properties to a commercial designation and it affects property values. He said it is his opinion and he can prove that property values are affected by the introduction of commercial activity near a residence. He said one of the primary questions on a homeowners insurance application is, "Is your home within 500' of any commercial property?" He said it doesn't ask if it is CPO, CC2 or CC3, but it says commercial property. Mr. Knight said that what insurers are trying to do by probing for that information is to detect if these residential properties are more exposed to risks Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - September 10, 2001 Page 4 of 10- Approved on September 24, 2001 associated with insuring residential properties. Mr. Knight said properties that are affected by commercial intrusion tend to be less attractive to secondary institutional mortgage investors. He said that can be confirmed by representatives of the Federal National Mortgage Association commonly known as Fannie Mae and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation known as Freddie Mack. He said right now money flows free for the financing of homes, but they have all been through tight money periods where lenders very carefully select the homes they want to serve as collateral for the loans they make. Mr. Knight said in tight money times, properties like his that are positioned close to commercial activity are given secondary consideration for selection. Mr. Knight asked the Commission to carefully consider these matters as this is a very sensitive situation and he and his neighbors are extremely concerned about this issue. He said the paperwork he distributed represents the responses from nine of the twelve homeowners on the 200' list. He said he did not have time to approach Mr. Greer to find out what his feelings are, but Mr. Greer is present to speak. He said that he assumes Mr. Brown and Ms. Garret will support rezoning since they did in the last request. He said that the names highlighted in yellow represent nine homeowners who oppose the rezoning and there are eight letters and the one not represented, Ms. Cox, is sending him a letter. He asked the Commission to recommend denial to City Council. Roy Bean, 4004 Steeplechase, east of the rezoning request. He said he is opposed to the rezoning for the reason that he and his wife moved to Colleyville to live in a home where they wouldn't have to move any more. He said they don't want to live in ~ commercial neighborhood, but in a residential neighborhood. Mr. Bean said they didn't care if there are young children, older people, or retirees as long as it is a neighborhood without businesses. Lorna Sills, 412 Greenbriar Lane, stated that she lives in one of the adjoining subdivisions and wants to go on record stating her opposition to rezoning for a number of the same reasons stated by Mr. Knight and Mr. Bean. She said that this would negatively impact the surrounding neighborhoods as it is an incursion on residential neighborhoods. She said that she had questions relating to when the property was renovated. She said she wondered if the permits were applied for under false pretenses because someone is not living in the residential home, but operating a business. She wanted to know if they are regarding someone for breaking the rules and most of them try to follow the rules. She said they put up their fences, make sure the gates are closed around the pools and they'd like to see their neighbors follow the same rules and certainly not be regarded for breaking them. She asked if the property was rezoned to commercial, what future plans does the owner of the property have? She said that if she understands correctly, rezoning won't positively impact any tax revenues, and she fails to understand what benefit there is to the City and to the neighbors. Bill Delong, 128 Felps Court, said he is opposed to the rezoning and his concerns are that by rezoning this, they plant the seed to allow for additional commercial businesses in the area. He said they have an individual who is a C.P.A. and quite knowledgeable and began a business in what is zoned residential. He said he is concerned that someone can back door into this kind of situation and then brings it to a vote after the fact that it is already a business. Joe Missimo, said that he purchased the house at 215 Cheek Sparger Road for his daughter and two grandchildren, and it is approximately 40 feet away from the proposed rezoning. Hew said Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - September 10, 2001 Page 5 of i0-Approved on September 24,2001 what amazes him is that someone is so deceitful to remodel a house to be used as a business and why didn't the City of Colleyville give her a fine for something like this. He asked if there was some sort of violation Ms. Edwards committed by trying to set up a commercial business and said she should have been fined for it. Brian Dunn, 3809 Felps Court, asked the Commission what is the difference from rezoning office versus commercial because once it turns commercial they have the option to change and build a real building there. Chairman Gasper said assuming that the property is rezoned, it would have to meet the CPO standards. Mr. Dunn said that historically there have never been businesses along Cheek Sparger as far as offices. He said there is just a commercial zone farther down. He said he and his wife are opposed to it outright and he wanted to remind the Commission about the Wal Mart issue. He said he would have thought that a C.P.A. in the community would have considered the Wal Mart issue before setting up a business. Mr. Dunn said that a zoning change would be rewarding them for coming in the back door and getting caught. He asked the Commission to vote no on the rezoning. Everet Greer, 4001 Felps Drive, said he lives directly next door to the property. He said Ms. Edwards had real sickness in the family in Mississippi and had to leave as her brother is very ill and had to have a kidney operation and she is the only relative available to go for that. He said he wanted the case to be tabled so that Ms. Edwards could present her side to the Commission. There being no one else present wishing to speak, the public hearing was closed. Chairman Gaper said that consistent with what they agreed upon earlier, the issue is tabled and will be heard first on the agenda at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. She said it is being tabled to allow the applicant to have an opportunity to address the Commission before a decision is made. The recording secretary asked if a motion needed to be made to take action. Chairman Gasper said that there was no objection when the issue was mentioned earlier, so there is no need for a motion. Commissioner Wall asked the Chairman if Ms. Edwards was going to donate a kidney. Someone in the audience responded that she was not. Chairman Gasper asked staff what the procedure is when somebody wants to renovate a house and if there are required permits. Barry LeBaron said that Ms. Edwards applied for a building permit to renovate a house. Commissioner Wall asked if the city issued a certificate of occupancy. Mr. LeBaron responded that he was not sure if she got a certificate of occupancy, but typically on residential properties they don't do certificates of occupancy and that is usually done on commercial properties. Chairman Gasper asked Barry LeBaron what the consequences are when someone is in violation of the zoning ordinance. He responded that when they were advised that she was possibly in violation of the home occupation ordinance, they went out and visited with Ms. Edwards and discovered that in their opinion, she was clearly in violation of the ordinance. He said she asked what her avenues of relief were and he told her that she needs to abate the situation and use it for a house and not an office or seek rezoning. Mr. LeBaron said they notified her in writing and told her she was in violation and gave her a prescribed amount of time to either bring it into compliance or rezone. He said they would wait until staff gets a decision on the rezoning beforegthey pursue it any farther. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - September 10,2001 Page 6 of 10- Approved on September 24, 2001 Chairman Gasper said she wanted to reiterate that the next time they hear the case, it is solely to hear the applicant's side of the issue and it is not going to be a public hearing. She said citizens are invited to come and hear what has to be said, but it is not going to be another open hearing. Barry LeBaron recommended that the Chairman takes action to table and make a motion and second. Chairman Gasper said that she is presuming Ms. Edwards will be at the next meeting, but they would continue to table the case until she has the opportunity to speak. She said that in all fairness to her, they need to hear her side. Chairman Gasper said that the Commission typically has done that when an applicant for what ever reasons outside their control cannot make a hearing. She acknowledged that the business is still running and if Ms. Edwards does not return, they may have to take action, but she would like to give Ms. Edwards the opportunity to come forward. Commissioner Wall moved to table the item. Commissioner Hollis seconded the motion. The vote being: Ayes: Sellers, Swift, Hollis, Wall, Jones, Gasper Noes: None 3. A PUBLIC HEARING - A Special Use Permit for vehicle rental with outside display requested by Sean Thompson, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, on 1,622 square foot space located in Suite 211 at 4843 Colleyville Boulevard - Village Park Shopping Center. Case Z-01-024 Clayton Husband presented the case to the Commission and told them that the request is for a location in the Village Park shopping Center and indicated the location using a power point presentation. He said the applicant proposes to move an Enterprise Rent-A-Car facility into that particular shopping center. He said the type of use requires a special use permit in all zoning categories and CC2 is the category the property is already zoned. He indicated what lease space the business is proposing to locate in and they propose parking the rental cars in the parking lot at the rear of the building. Mr. Husband said that the applicant proposes keeping any where from 3 to 10 cars on the site at all times with probably 500 to 700 rentals per month. He showed pictures of the shopping center space. He displayed a picture he took while standing in the middle of the street behind the shopping center to show what is visible from Glade Creek Road. Mr. Husband said that the Master Plan indicates commercial use on the property and the use is compliant with that and only the immediate property behind the shopping center is residential, but everything else is commercial of some sort. He said staff mailed 11 notices and has not received responses regarding the request. He said that staff has recommended approval. Chairman Gasper asked if there were any questions by the Commissioners. Commissioner Sellers asked where the applicant proposes to park the cars. Clayton Husband responded that the cars would be parked at the rear. He said because this is a special use permit, the Commission can add the location of the parking, and that parking area is rarely used for anything and the only thing back there is entrances to lease spaces and Albertson's service entrance. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - September 10, 2001 Page 7 of 10- Approved on September 24, 2001 Commissioner Jones asked where the applicant proposes to clean and wash cars. Clayton Husband directed the questions to the applicant. Chairman Gasper opened the public hearing. Those present wishing to speak were: Sean Thompson, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, 448 Place Park, Irving, Texas, said that their business is very different from the typical airport rental car service because they are a replacement market and focus on taking care of customers when their vehicles are broken down or need other service types of repairs. He said that they average 75 to 100 rental cars at a particular branch with target utilization at 92% to 93% each year. He said that is how they calculate 3 to 10 vehicles on a lot at one time. Mr. Thompson said that what they do as a company between doing rentals is cleaning the vehicles and do a safety inspection by driving them around the lot to make sure there hasn't been any minor damages. He proposed to construct a canopy for shade cover for maintenance and washing of the vehicles. He said that possibly the top portion of the canopy would be visible from the street. He said that it is proposed to be in the middle section of the parking lot, up against the Albertson's wall. Mr. Thompson said that the canopy would not be of any significance due to the current shrubs and trees along Glade Creek Drive and will be canopy. He said that he would be agreeable to adding additional bushes. He said that he anticipates the color of the canopy to be green but not a bright color that would stand out because he wants it to be discrete to not let the general public know it is back there. Commissioner Hollis asked how much noise does the vacuum system make and during what hours would work be done on the cars. Mr. Thompson responded that because they are a retail operation, they would be open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. so they would not cause any types of interference between early morning and late afternoons. He said that the business is closed on Sundays. He said that they use a regular shop vacuum and it is not as loud as a lawn mower. He said that the homes behind the shopping center are set apart from this location by the parking lot, the landscaping, the road, then a brick wall, their backyards, and finally the dwellings. Chairman Gasper commented that the homes in Lakewood Estates were built long after the shopping center was built and they did know that they were abutting commercial. Commissioner Sellers said that he would like to see a rendering of some type before he takes action to be sure that the canopy meets the standards that they have established in Colleyville and the look they are trying to achieve. He said that he has some concerns about putting a canvass top behind the shopping center since the business has a 10 year lease with a 5 year extension possible. He said that they get weather beaten and the next thing the city will have is a mess on their hands and it starts to downgrade the area. He said that he realizes that the homes built behind the shopping center knew that it was commercial, but they should still look out for their interests. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - September 10,2001 Page 8 of 10- Approved on September 24, 2001 Commissioner Wall asked if the notice to the surrounding properties include anything other than parking in the back and mentioned a structure attached to the Albertson's regarding cleaning or washing facilities. He said that the fact that there are no letters of opposition or no concerns, would not necessarily indicate that they were aware of what was being proposed. Clayton Husband responded that the notice did describe the type of activity that was going to take place in that location. He said that the business could do a covered parking area even without a special use permit. He said that covered parking is allowed in the commercial district and the business could construct covered parking. Commissioner Swift asked who was sent the notice and if it was only commercial businesses. Clayton Husband responded that if any homes were within 200' they were given notice. The recording secretary indicated which property owners were residential. Commissioner Wall asked for clarification of the regulations regarding covered parking in a commercial district. Clayton Husband said that they would need to apply for a building permit, submit a set of plans so that staff could insure that there are no encroachments into easements, building setbacks, and things of that nature. He said that if the business wants to build covered parking areas they can. He said that if this request is eventually approved by the City Council, they will have to submit plans for permits to renovate the space, the occupancy permit, and any other construction they propose for electrical, mechanical, and plumbing. Chairman Gasper asked if Learning World wanted to provide a covered area, could they submit plans for a permit and do that. Clayton Husband said they could and it would not take action by any commission or board to approve it. Commissioner Swift asked the applicant about the washing facility. He asked if it was the type that has the washing apparatus on runners. Mr. Thompson said that he would not do something like that because it would require a walled structure like a garage large enough to pull the vehicles through. He said that typically, they use a rolled up hose that would be brought out of the business to hose off the vehicles. He said that there are days that he even has to wash cars and still wears his white shirt and tie because image is very important to them for their long term success. He said that he is proposing a green canopy because it is the company's color and if there were better recommendations, he would be open to them. Mr. Thompson said that if he were required to use a brown canopy to blend with the building colors, that would not be a problem to him. He said that he would pull the hoses into the business at night and not use a power washer. Barry LeBaron said that staff generally does not ask questions at public hearings because the Commissioners do such an adequate job at touching all of the bases. He said that there are a couple of issues that he would like to see the applicant address. He said that because the business will have some type of inventory, they may want to have some kind of security area. He said he would hate to see some stockade type of fencing going up in the middle of the parking lot because he could just envision what that would look like and they may want to consider establishing some type of fencing prohibition. Mr. LeBaron said the second issue is lighting, because they do have a residential area behind the shopping center. He said they have not had any complaints about the current shopping center lighting, but if they are proposing any additional Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - September 10, 2001 Page 9 of 10- Approved on September 24, 2001 lighting enhancements, it would be good to address that issue as well. Commissioner Wall asked Mr. Thompson to respond to the issues of fencing and lighting. Mr. Thompson said that there would be no intention for fencing and he has no problem with that being a condition of the special use permit. He said that they have no intention of changing any lighting because of the cost and that can be added to the conditions of the special use permit. He said that as far as the canvass being well maintained, he would encourage that to be included. Commissioner Wall moved to recommend approval of the special use permit with the following conditions: 1. Any type of cabled area or fenced area for the cars is prohibited; 2. Additional security lighting is prohibited; 3. They will provide additional shrubbery along the back area to further screen; 4. The canopy will be constructed with a brown canopy that will match the color of the building and it will be well maintained. Commissioner Swift seconded the motion. Chairman Gasper encouraged the applicant to meet with city staff to propose a landscaping plan that could be presented to City Council. The vote being: Ayes: Sellers, Swift, Hollis, Wall, Jones, Gasper Noes: None 4. TABLED ITEM - Consideration of amendments to Chapter 9 of the Land Development Code relating to Perimeter Street Improvement Requirements. Case Z-01-022 This item was not removed from the table. 5. Citizens' comments regarding items not on the agenda: There were none. 6. Staff comments, reports and discussion items: Barry LeBaron asked the Commissioners to choose a date for an orientation session. It was decided that a training session would be held on Thursday, September 20th at 7:00 p.m. in the Ease Wing Conference Room. 7. Commissioner's comments and reports: Chairman Gasper welcomed the new commissioners. She told them that in the future they would only correct substantive errors in the minutes, and any other changes would not be discussed at the meetings, but given to the recording secretary to correct. Commissioner Wall spoke about the Highway 26 overlay meeting. He said that he video taped the meeting and had a tape available. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - September 10, 2001 Page 10 of 10- Approved on September 24, 2001 ADJOURNMENT: The Commission moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:55 p.m. The motion was seconded and passed by acclamation. Respectfully Submitted, Approved on: September 24,2001 as submitted. NOTE: As a matter of public record, an audio recording of the above Planning and Zoning Commission meeting is available upon request.